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August 13, 2009 - Day ends with storm's sound and furyAUGUST 13, 2009 1 SUFFOLKTIMES.COM ay ends with storm's sound and fury We went out imang tor a wwet., a miulu uuu, ulaL ve had been told was probably nesting across from Fruman's Beach in Orient. We had been by a few imes and not been able to see it, but others have so ve went back again in hopes of having better luck. After we parked we looked east along the upper )each, where the beautiful yellow horned poppy ,vas in full bloom among the big bleached logs and 3ieces of wood that had been driven up the beach jy storms. There was a beautiful mix of pink and white roses and yarrow in bloom along with the yellow poppies. (As we stepped out onto the pebbly beach we spotted a little rabbit enjoying his morning snack. He didn't seem bothered atall by us as we made our way out onto the beach.) We've seen this poppy before on Gardiners Island and Shelter Island and here it was in all its glory, growing throughout this pebbly beach area in striking contrast to the large bleached, gray logs that lay this way and that in every direction. You could see the long, pencil -thin horns were already forming on the poppy plant; FOCUS ON NATURE they will later .play a part in spreading the seeds away from the main plant. We learned about this par - ticular poppy years ago PAUL STOUTENBURGH when we first became ac- quainted with it by taking home one of the delicate golden -yellow blossoms and one of the interesting seed pods for identification. At home Barbara put them in a glass on the windowsill over the are where she was making some sandwiches. As she worked she began to no. tice something peculiar. Something was happen- ing and until she looked closer she couldn't figure Left: The literature tells us that the horned poppy is a recent addition to the dry, sandy places along our coast. Its seed pod has the ability to shoot out its contents at the right time and distance for orooaeation. All plants and flowers have their own way of reproducing and dispersing their seeds and this horned poppy has a very unusual process, which it was now showing us firsthand. As Barbara stood there, something was hitting her and landing on the sandwiches she was working on. She looked closer at the nine - inch -long, curved, pencil -thin capsule or pod that holds numerous brown seeds. As she watched, a tiny spiral on the pod would start to wind up like a spring and when it got to the end it would shoot off into the air. The stove nearby was heating water for tea and the heat was causing the process to speed up. The seeds are dispersed by the tension and splitting open of the pod when dry and that's just what the heat of the stove was doing — drying out the pod, thus speeding up the normal process. We enjoyed another one of nature's magic moments. We found no willets on our humans neacri wm&, but enjoyed our time there and as we began to head back to the car I could feel it getting a little bit cooler. It had been a beautiful day and we hadn't paid any attention to the sky as we wandered among the bleached logs and beautiful flowers. Then the thunder started and we took a look at the sky and there it was — to the west the sky had gotten black and ominous. We hurried back to the shelter of the car before the first rain arrived. Then you might say all hell broke loose: tremendous rain, thunder and lightning. It was a show of shows. As the storm got worse we decided we weren't in any hurry to get home so we pulled in to the Southolc Town Beach, where we found others already parked, waiting out the storm. And it was a storm. The people in the cars watched the Sound as it got wilder and wilder— keeping their windshield wipers going so as not to miss seeing the Sound's fury. When we finally got back home we thought the storm was over. We walked around a bit, checked on the garden and in no time we heard rumblings, and then — another downpour. Inside we went. This time it was crackling and rumbling. It seemed right in the treetops above us. One terrific crash seemed like it hit us overhead. Our power in one part of the house was put out and we found out later we had been hit and it actually burned out the wall socket in the cellar that was connected to the freezer. Although the computer had been shut off, when the power came back on the computer didn't. However, we did have a wonderful day and a bit wa µ w Pik *. wi A BARBARA AND PAUL STOUTENBURGH Above: Sometimes you have to get clown close to your subject when photographing flowers, like this horned poppy, that grow among the pebbles on the upper beach.